Chandigarh, January 13
The city police is now set to harness the latest state-of-the-art technology for crime prevention. In the backdrop of major crime incidents, including Wednesday’s Rs 10 crore robbery at the Tanishq jewellery store in Manimajra, the police today asked all banks to install auto dialer systems in their premises within 15 days.

In fact, at a high-level meeting chaired by UT home secretary Ram Niwas it was also decided to ask all jewellers and petrol stations to install the system subsequently to keep a check on criminals. “In the changed (law and order) scenario technological intervention will go a long way in checking crime as policemen have their own limitations in patrolling different city areas round the clock. Devices like auto dialer systems have proved very effective in curbing crime all over the world,” Niwas stated.

Officials said the auto dialer system would be directly connected with police control rooms (PCRs) and the police station concerned. In case of any crime incident the system’s alarm will automatically trigger off, sending prerecorded messages to the emergency telephone numbers.

To test the effectiveness of the system, mock exercises would be conducted in the coming days. Banks would be at the liberty of conducting surprise mock exercises to check the police’s response time, the officials added.

Besides installation of panic buttons in banks, it was also decided to set up magnetic sensors on all window panes, back doors and other vulnerable spots to prevent incidents such as theft and robbery.

UT inspector general of police PK Srivastava stated at the meeting that the latest technology would help in curbing burglaries and armed robberies. “Though several banks have deployed security guards outside their premises, the latter could easily be overpowered by criminals at night”, he noted.

UT SSP Naunihal Singh suggested motion sensors should be installed along with CCTV cameras so that lights were automatically switched on for better video footage.

The dacoity of jewellery worth ` 10 crore at Tanishq showroom at Mani Majra and kidnapping-cum-gruesome murder of five-year-old Khushpreet has has once again raised questions over the functioning of the police in the city. Despite tall claims of being more active, deploying its forces better and striving for greater accountability, city residents say they have lost faith in the UT Police. 

The robbery at Tanishq is a classic example of the increasing brazenness of criminals as a result of negligible police patrolling on the streets. The UT Police cannot escape the responsibility for ensuring better patrolling on the streets and reviving the beat system.

— Ravinder Pal Singh, Mayor

The UT Police should cast aside all claims of “We are at your service” and admit that the city is no longer safe to dwell. The city’s population has increased manifold from about five lakh over a decade ago to around 12 lakh. However, there has been no matching increase in the police workforce.
— Gurcharan Das Kalaa, councillor, Mani Majra

Most of the traders or shopkeepers carry cash when they leave their shops in the evening. The trading community is at the mercy of miscreants each time they step out of their shops with cash. The recent heist at Tanishq is not all heartening.
— Charanjit Singh, president, Chandigarh Beopar Mandal

The police needs to revive its beat system immediately. Unfortunately, exercises like tenant verification, servant verification and police-public interface have taken a backseat, which reflects on the lack of police presence in the public.
— SC Sagar, Former DSP, Chandigarh

Given the fact that the robbery occurred while a PCR vehicle was stationed at a stone’s throw from the Tanishq showroom, one can imagine how safe the city is. We are not secure in markets, on the roads and even in our homes. It is better to avoid crime rather than be hunting for culprits later.
— Gurvinder Vir Singh Aulakh, president, Panjab University Student Council

There used to be a time when we could walk safely on the streets at night without any fear. But now things have changed. I am a workingwoman and drive to office on a two-wheeler. I cannot dare to wear any gold ornaments, including a simple chain, because we never know what will happen.
— Gurvinder Kaur, a private company executive, Chandigarh

I stay in Mohali but work in Chandigarh. Those who go to work leaving their elderly parents alone at home cannot be comfortable. They keep calling them many times during the day to hear their voice. The fear says it all.

— Ravjot Singh, resident of Mohali

Panchkula, January 13
Rajesh, alias Badri, a notorious gangster suspected to be involved in the heist at the Tanishq jewellery showroom in Mani Majra, on Wednesday morning, continues to regularly make news for wrong reasons in the region.

Dressed as policemen and carrying guns, the gang is known to strike at will in neatly executed planned “missions”.

l Mani Majra to Amartex at Panchkula, before entering Punjab through Bartana village near Zirakpur. l Left turn from Old Panchkula chowk at NH-22 to Himachal Pradesh. l Right turn from Old Panchkula chowk to Zirakpur, Punjab. l NH 73 to Barwala village for sneaking into Ambala and Dera Bassi through three different routes.

The Haryana Police had constituted a special cell to eliminate the dreaded gangster. The closest opportunity that the police had was an encounter in May 2009 at Rohtak when Badri had a close shave. Badri managed to escape, while two of his accomplices, Sunil Kumar and Sunder alias Kala, were apprehended.

Informed police sources said after a majority of his accomplices were caught by the special cell, Badri shifted the base of his activities to Agra in Uttar Pradesh and Bharatpur in Rajasthan last year.

Badri is known to be the brain behind the famous robbery at the PC Jewellers in Panchkula in January 2009. The gang had originally planned to rob a bank in Bank Square in Sector 17, Chandigarh, said a police official who investigated the case. Failing to make their entry at the identified spot, the gang was returning empty-handed when it decided to pull off a heist at PC jewelers in Sector 14, Panchkula. A robbery was planned and within two days, the gang executed their robbery with precision.

The robbers were very particular in respect to the timings while executing the robbery. The robbers took a mere two minutes to clean out the jewellery store. Yesterday, the dozen odd strong gang took a mere 12 minutes to execute their heist as is evident from the CCTV footage. In both incidents, the gangsters were wearing police uniform. Wearing police uniform, particularly of UP Police and certain other similarities, make it a strong case for the possible involvement of the Badri gang.

Revive heritage panel: Report The report of the magisterial inquiry said the committee set up by the UT administration to look into identification and conservation of heritage furniture in the wake of reported sale of heritage furniture by foreign auction houses had not yielded the desired results. “It is further recommended that the committee be reconstituted with members who are passionate about this subject”, it added

‘Expert panel must define heritage’ Interestingly, the report mentions the first task of this expert committee should be to define “heritage furniture”. “A meeting at the highest level may be convened, especially with senior officials of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, Punjab and Haryana secretariat and state assemblies and Panjab University as these institutions have maximum furniture items of heritage value”, it said. So far, the UT administration had only held one meeting with officials of these institutions on November 3 under the chairmanship of former UT finance secretary Sanjay Kumar. However, with his exit the fate of this panel also hangs in balance till the new incumbent joins office and calls the next meeting

Chandigarh, January 13 
Non-teaching and teaching staff of Postgraduate Government College, Sector 46, celebrated Lohri with enthusiasm and zeal on the college premises today. The newly appointed principal Dr Shamlata, lighted the holy fire and wished luck to all the members of staff and asked them to sweeten their lives with the sweetness of rewri and gachak.

Golden Bells Golden Bells Public School, Sector 77, Mohali, has decided not to celebrate Lohri to mourn the death of the five-year-old Khushpreet. Students and the teachers of the school lighted candles to pay tribute to Khushpreet. Chairman of the school Col CS Bawa (retd) said: “Every year the school had celebrated Lohri in a unique way, but this time to express solidarity with Khushpreet Singh’s family, the school is not going to celebrate Lohri.” 

NSS camp A one-day NSS camp was organised at Government College of Education on Thursday. Principal, staff and students of the College celebrated Lohri with enthusiasm during this camp. The ambience of the venue and celebration was in tune with Punjabi culture. Students and staff members performed the rituals of Lohri. On the occasion, they offered peanuts, popcorn and sweets made of til, chirva, and revri to holy Lohri fire. Principal Dr Harsh Batra also wished the students a happy and prosperous Lohri and New Year that would begin on January 14.

Jr achievement company Five students from Vivek High School are representing India at the Asia Pacific Junior Achievement Company of the Year competition at Hong Kong to be held on the 17, 18 and 19 January 2011.The team of five students, including Manek Mehta, Raisa Kaur, Harshit Bansal, Shaurya Punj and Saanya Ojha, of Class XI led by teacher advisor Mushtaq Ahmed will be competing in this international event by presenting to a panel of judges their company -ICONIQUE. Iconique is a joint stock company whose shareholders are the staff and students of Vivek High School. The company is managed and run by Class XI students of the school.

Chandigarh, January 13
The city enjoyed a cold Lohri today as the day remained considerably warm with the maximum temperature climbing to 21.6 degrees Celsius from Wednesday’s 16.8 degrees, one degree above normal for this time of the year. The minimum also rose to 5.2 degrees C as against 3.7 recorded yesterday.

But adding to the morning chill was fog that started last night and intensified around 8 in the morning but vanished soon.

Even though Lohri traditionally marks the end of winter, city residents might see a further rise in the night temperature and fall in the day temperature, as the Met department has predicted a shallow fog with a spell of rain or thundershowers tomorrow evening/night.

“There is likely to be a shallow fog in the early hours of both Friday and Saturday. However, whether conditions will remain the same through the day will depend on the wind speed,” said a senior Met department official.

The sun broke the cloud around noon and the bright sunshine brought some relief from chilly winds for the city residents.

“The cold spell seems endless. I just hope that the weather improves soon. It is so difficult to get out of bed during morning hours,” said Preeti, a bank employee.

However, the poor visibility in the morning hours once again grounded all the flights. Seven trains were delayed today due to bad weather on the way.

The weatherman has predicted partly cloudy sky with the possibility of light to moderate rain in the region in the next 24 hours. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 20 and 9 degrees, respectively.

Mohali January 13
A fully-equipped customer care centre set up at the local office of the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd for the convenience of consumers has become functional.

Power consumers will no longer have to wait in queues, especially during chilly winters and in the summer heat, to get their work done. The centre is air-conditioned and comfortable chairs have been installed for consumers. They can even spend their time watching TV at the centre. The centre has a seating capacity of more than 20 persons.

Work related to new power connections, faulty meters, billing errors, security deposits, etc, will be taken care of at the centre. A private company, Data Infosysis, has been given the contract which has deployed its own employees to handle the work. These employees have been given computers by the power corporation. Photo attestation and other formalities would be done on the spot.

The power corporation has put up its own microwave tower for having its own network which is linked with offices located in other districts.

Four such centres are already running in the state. These are located in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala and Bathinda. Mohali is the fifth district in Punjab to give such a facility to its residents.

The approach road on the premises of the power corporation office in Phase I, Industrial Area, which was full of potholes, has been repaired as part of the same project. The road berm has been cleared of wild growth so that the area could be used for parking.

Chandigarh, January 13
If all goes as per the plans, officials of the Municipal Corporation will know the record of the raw water supply from the water treatment plants in the city at the click of the mouse.

By March-end, the Surveillance Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, which is being installed, will become functional and reports of water supply flow of all pumps in waterworks and tubewells will be available.

Sources in the MC revealed that the system was initiated to get round-the-clock data of water supply availability to the city through remote terminal units of all water works and over 200 tubewells in the jurisdiction of the civic body.

An MC official said at present there was no system available with the authorities to keep a check on the quantity of raw water received from all four phases of Kajauli waterworks and its treatment plant. He said through the SCADA system, the department could also monitor the quality of water supply to the city. During a meeting, Mayor Ravinder Pal Singh (Pali) directed officials to make the system functional by March-end.

In 2007, a project to upgrade the water supply infrastructure for proper monitoring and automation with the remote computerised wireless surveillance supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system was prepared under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission of the Union Ministry of Urban Development.

Pali said the project of tertiary water supply would also be completed by June-end and all the greenbelts and open spaces in the city will have round-the-clock water supply. Officials of the corporation were also directed that proposals for construction of toilets in each greenbelt be prepared and tabled in the coming general house meeting. Pali also constituted a special committee to work on modalities of the laser show project, to be set up in Sector 17.

Chandigarh, January 13
To review the important road safety issues for better traffic management in the city, the first meeting of State-Level Road Safety Council was convened today.

The meeting was chaired by Adviser to the UT Administrator Pradip Mehra and was attended by senior officers of the UT Administration, MC and the Chandigarh Police.

The suggestions that came from members included introduction of entry tax in Chandigarh (5% to 6%), check on the unauthorised movement of trucks, tourist buses, taxis on the narrow road between Khuda Ali Sher and Kaimbwala to save passenger tax, proper provision of slip roads before traffic lights/crossings, construction of railway over bridge on Railway Crossing near Vikas Nagar which is the main cause of traffic chaos on this link No. 2.

It was decided that for the time being, the road near Vikas Nagar railway crossing be widened on both sides to avoid traffic jams on this busy railway crossing. It was decided that concrete steps should be taken to ensure proper provision of slip roads at roundabout, besides providing proper lighting arrangement at cycle tracks, provision of proper road signs, lane markings, etc which would be done by the engineering department.

It was decided to introduce Area Traffic Control System on the lines of the Delhi Police. The other submissions included strict enforcement for rash and drunk driving, punching of Driving Licence if offence was repeated five times.

It was also suggested that to curb drunken driving, checking should be carried out by the local police at the exit point of pubs, clubs and hotels. Suggestions that were mooted at the meeting included fixing of office timings of Punjab, Haryana and UT employees and construction of flyover on railway line from Garcha turn to road already constructed up to railway colony from Panchkula side. Widening of road from Kaimbwala turn to Village Kaimbwala connecting Mansa Devi and Panchkula was also suggested.

Chandigarh, January 13
Senior citizens and women passengers travelling in trains will soon introduce be able to book luggage trolleys in advance by dialing a designated telephone number. Once they arrive at the station, a uniformed ‘rail yatri sevak’, holding a placard with the trolley number, will provide them the service for a price. The facility will also be available without advance booking.

A railway official said this had been done in line with Mamata Banerjee’s Rail Budget announcement last year. “The Railways is all set to introduce modern luggage trolleys at important stations across the country. However, the first pilot project for this facility has been sanctioned for Howrah and Sealdah railway stations in Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s home state West Bengal,” he added.

Under the project, the State Bank of India is being roped in to provide trolleys and engage ‘rail yatri sevaks’. These ‘sevaks’ will be entitled to charge a fixed amount as trolley charges directly from the passengers. The zonal railways will decide the trolley charges taking into account the local conditions of an area and will also ensure that the charges are prominently displayed at the platforms. 

Chandigarh, January 13
The Crime Branch of the UT Police today again questioned several relatives and also Avtar Singh, a tenant, in the sensational Khushpreet case for any possible leads into the kidnapping followed by the blind murder of the five-year-old.

Avtar works as a mechanic in Ambala. Khushpreet was kidnapped from near his house in Burail village on December 21 and his body was found dumped in Mohali on January 5.

After Khushpreet’s family pointed out that the child was last seen with Avtar on the day he was kidnapped, the police again picked him up from his Ambala residence and brought him to the Crime Branch for questioning. Sources said the police questioned about his whereabouts on December 21, the day Khushpreet was kidnapped.

The police said it would crosscheck his statement by examining the mobile tower location against each call he had made that day. “He has been brought for routine questioning as the child was last seen with him. He is being asked about what routine he followed on December 21,” said a police official.

The police had questioned Avtar on December 23, two days after Khushpreet was kidnapped. — TNS

Zirakpur, January 13
Safety concerns have come crashing with the setting up of a structure and scrap being piled in the vicinity of the airport boundary in Pabhat village. Rules prohibit any kind of construction activity within 100m of the airport boundary. Heaps of scrap pose the danger of bird-hit to the planes.

Scrap dealers are sitting on rented land to raise structures along the airport boundary, causing concern to the local administration.

Scrap dealers’ shops; and (right) construction work going on near the boundary wall of airport in Pabhat village. Tribune photos: Nitin Mittal

Mohali, January 13
The Director-General of Police, Punjab, today inaugurated a modern police control room (PCR) of the Mohali district police, equipped with GIS/GPS-based automatic vehicle-tracking system, at the Phase 8 police station here.

Though operational a few months ago, the PCR was formally inaugurated today.

The modern police control room is equipped with a PCR vehicle-tracking system, electronic form management and integration with the digital land map of Mohali. The control room is equipped with a digital map (visible on the big screen) to pinpoint location of a PCR vehicle so that it can be re posited or sent to a spot.

Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police GPS Bhullar said the functioning of the control room was fully computerised with all entries being made by officials on computers directly, reducing the paper work. The PCR controls a fleet of GPS- enabled 33 motorcycles and 40 four-wheelers.

In addition, the GPS has been installed in the vehicles of Station House Officers, traffic and other police officers for better monitoring and pooling of resources. There are five call taking stations and five call dispatching stations with supervisory stations for monitoring and feedback. The modern PCR is connected to the State Command Centre at Chandigarh and its functioning is also monitored at the state level.

The modern PCR has been constructed at a cost of Rs 1.8 crore to cut the police response time to distress calls to seven minutes. There is a provision of storing voice and other data for a period of one month and automatic recording of voice calls on loggers.

On a visit to Mohali, Director-General of Police (DGP) Punjab PS Gill exhibited a casual approach when asked about the rising crime in the tricity.

“I cannot comment in incidents of crime in Chandigarh and Panchkula. Crime is under control in Mohali,” he said, adding that they were holding coordination meetings with the neighbours.

When prodded on the result of the coordination meetings in the light of poor coordination between Chandigarh and Mohali Police in Kushpreet’s murder and previous incidents of kidnappings for ransom and robberies wherein criminals have sneaked into neighbouring states after committing crimes, he had no reply.

Apparently caught off-guard on the issue, he said he would take up the matter with his counterparts.